Books by CCPS (Center for Chemical Process Safety)

This CCPS book describes about 50 incidents, which have had a significant impact on the chemical industry as well as the basic elements of process safety. Each incident is presented in sufficient detail to gain an understanding of root causes for the event with a focus on lessons learned and the impact the incident had on process safety.

Join other major companies and start your LOPA efforts now by purchasing this book.

Almost all the major accident investigations--Texas City, Piper Alpha, the Phillips 66 explosion, Feyzin, Mexico City--show human error as the principal cause, either in design, operations, maintenance, or the management of safety. This book provides practical advice that can substantially reduce human error at all levels. In eight chapters--packed with case studies and examples of simple and advanced techniques for new and existing systems--the book challenges the assumption that human error is "unavoidable." Instead, it suggests a systems perspective. This view sees error as a consequence of a mismatch between human capabilities and demands and inappropriate organizational culture. This makes error a manageable factor and, therefore, avoidable.

The EPA investigation of a 1994 chemical plant tragedy concluded that "the explosion resulted from a lack of written safe operating procedures..." While good written procedures can't guarantee zero accidents, they can reduce the number of accidents caused by human error. This new book shows how to remedy this problem through selecting and implementing actions that promote safe, efficient operations and maintenance, improve quality, continuity, profitability and cost control, build upon and record process experience, and promote the concept that operating and maintenance procedures are vital plant components. It includes practical samples of procedure formats, checklists and many references.